Livingston girls defeat Central Valley for share of WAC basketball title

Tina Lao remembered how it felt after losing to Central Valley by one point in the first matchup.

The Livingston High School senior didn’t want to go through that again.

“We were emotional,” Lao said. “We felt it was a game we should have won. We used that one-point loss for motivation. We were hungry. I’ve been waiting all week for this game. I’ve been so nervous.”

Lao and her teammates were emotional again Tuesday night, but this time in a good way after Livingston clinched a Western Athletic Conference co-championship with a 60-54 win over Central Valley on Naldi Court. The Wolves finished tied with the Hawks atop the WAC standings.

“I’m speechless,” said Lao, who scored 10 points. “We worked so hard for this. It feels amazing. We get to go out with a bang.”

It was Livingston’s first WAC title since the 2009-10 season. The Wolves also won a coin toss after the game to determine which team would get the WAC’s top seed heading into the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.

It was special for Lao and the other five seniors. Some have been with second-year varsity coach Nina Garcia for four years.

“A lot of them have been with me three or four years, back when I had them at junior varsity,” said Garcia, whose team won its eighth consecutive game to improve to 19-8 overall and 11-1 in the WAC. “This is huge for them. It’s so big.”

The seniors led the way. The Wolves broke the game open in the second quarter, as senior Gurpreet Sodhi came off the bench to score eight of her 14 points. Sodhi, who usually isn’t counted on to score, used up-and-under moves in the post and pump fakes outside to get open shots.

“I’m usually in there for defense and to get rebounds,” Sodhi said. “I just try to help my team however I can. When my shots started going in, it felt really good.”

Fellow senior Iliana Mendoza contributed big rebounds and earned her seven points working inside and getting to the free-throw line.

Wolves leading scorer Sharn Sahota started slow but hit some big three-pointers in the third quarter to help Livingston hold off a Central Valley run. The senior guard finished with 17 points.

“When my shot’s not falling, I try to help in other areas,” Sahota said. “Definitely on defense and on offense I try to get the ball in the post. Eventually, my shots started to fall.”

Sahota hit a three-pointer from about 4 feet behind the arc to give the Wolves a 41-25 lead with 2:26 left in the third quarter.

Mikayla Mabie tried to will the Hawks (18-7, 11-1) back into the game by scoring 15 of her game-high 26 points in the second half. Teresa Diaz added four three-pointers, but Central Valley didn’t cut the lead under 10 until Mabie hit two free throws to pull the Hawks within 57-48 with 1:35 left in the game.

Afterward, the Wolves posed for photos and exchanged hugs with family and friends as they celebrated.

“This wasn’t just for me or our team; we wanted to win this for our whole town,” Lao said.

“We’ve been trying to get this for two years,” Sahota said. “It’s a great feeling to finally win it.”

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Livingston girls defeat Central Valley for share of WAC basketball title."